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Colts 23, Miami 20
FOURTH QUARTER UPDATE
A special teams illegal wedge penalty put Indianapolis at its six to start the ensuing drive. Luck hit Dwayne 11 for 20 yards on third down, giving him totals of 12-of-14 for 198 on third-down passing on the day. Luck drove the Colts to the Miami 25, and Vinatieri hit a 43-yard field goal for a 23-20 lead with 5:58 to go. On the drive, Luck hit 433 passing yards on the day, setting a new NFL rookie record (432, Cam Newton, 2011). The scoring drive was 13 play, 69 yards, taking 7:14.
Winston Justice is questionable to return with a knee injury. Jerraud Powers is questionable to return with a toe injury.
Miami reached the Indianapolis 13 before misfiring on three passes. Carpenter hit a 31-yard field goal to tie the game, 20-20, with 13:12 to go. It was a 52-yard drive in 10 plays.
THIRD QUARTER UPDATE
Indianapolis took the lead when Luck teamed with T.Y. Hilton on a 36-yard scoring pass with 1:49 left in the quarter. It was an 82-yard drive in nine plays, the club's third scoring march of at least 75 yards. Hilton caught the ball in double coverage. Delone Carter rushed the ball effectively on the drive.
Donnie Avery is questionable to return with a hip injury.
Miami moved for one first down before a holding penalty set back the possession. After a 60-yard Miami punt, the Colts started their second drive at their 18.
Indianapolis moved into Miami territory before a sack-fumble hurt the march. Pat McAfee punted 40 yards to the Miami 10, giving the Dolphins possession with 9:06 left. Luck went over 300 passing yards, tying Peyton Manning's (4, 1998) club and NFL record for the most by a rookie quarterback.
Miami punted after gaining one first down. Indianapolis started its first possession of the half at its 20.
Robert Mathis and Samson Satele are questionable to return with back injuries.
SECOND QUARTER UPDATE
Luck was 19-of-28 for 273 yards passing in the half, while Tannehill was 10-of-14 for 158 yards. Seven different Colts had receptions.
Luck zipped the Colts to the Miami 29, completing five-of-nine passes for 63 yards and rushing once. Vinatieri hit a 47-yard field goal with seven seconds left to cut the score to 17-13.
Indianapolis forced its first three-and-out of the day to get the ball back with 1:14 left in the half. A third-down pressure by Freeney on Tannehill forced a punt.
Vinatieri was wide left on a 54-yard field goal attempt with 2:24 left in the half. Miami took possession at the 44 with a 17-10 lead.
Reggie Bush scored on a darting, 18-yard run with 5:07 to go as Miami assumed a 17-10 lead. Miami scored on a third straight possession and a second straight 80-yard drive. Linebacker Dwight Freeney had a sack-fumble of Tannehill on the drive, the 52nd different quarterback he has sacked in his career.
The Colts tied the game on a 23-yard field goal by Vinatieri with 9:37 left in the quarter. It was an eight-play, 73-yard drive that reached the Miami five-yard line. Luck has hit his first six passes on third down.
Miami re-gained the lead two minutes into the period when Tannehill teamed with FB/TE-Charles Clay on a 31-yard touchdown pass. It was a quick five-play, 80-yard drive where Tannehill hit a 35-yard pass in addition to the scoring play. Tannehill had 76 passing yards on the drive.
Tickets distributed today: 66,479.
FIRST QUARTER UPDATE
Indianapolis took the lead with 47 seconds left in the quarter when Luck hit Reggie Wayne on a nine-yard scoring pass on third down. It was an 80-yard drive for the Colts. On the drive, Luck hit T.Y. Hilton for 25 yards and Miami was flagged for a 32-yard pass interference penalty. Wayne (76) moved past Edgerrin James (75) for third-most touchdowns in Colts history (128, Marvin Harrison; 113, Lenny Moore).
Dan Carpenter hit a 37-yard field goal on Miami's first possession. It was a 42-yard drive that reached the Indianapolis red zone before linebacker Robert Mathis sacked Ryan Tannehill. It is the eighth straight game Mathis has recorded a sack, tying his career-best streak.
Adam Vinatieri was wide right on a 48-yard field goal to end the first Indianapolis possession. The Colts moved for two first downs before failing on a third-and-one at the Miami 25 prior to the attempt. Andrew Luck was crisp on the drive, hitting all four passes for 57 yards.
Indianapolis won the coin toss and elected to receive. Miami will defend the south goal.
COLTS GAME-DAY DEACTIVATIONS:
The roof and window for Lucas Oil Stadium are closed.
WR-Nathan Palmer
CB-Vontae Davis
CB-Marshay Green
DE-Clifton Geathers
DE-Lawrence Guy
OT-Tony Hills
TE-Coby Fleener
EXPECTED LINEUP CHANGES FOR COLTS:
Joe Reitz starts at LG for Jeff Linkenbach
Cassius Vaughn starts at CB for Vontae Davis
Weslye Saunders starts at TE for Coby Fleener
Vick Ballard starts at RB for Donald Brown
COLTS PRE-GAME NOTES:
Today's game marks the 84th straight sellout for the Colts, and the team has sold out 118 of the last 119 games. There never has been a game in Lucas Oil Stadium that was not sold out.
Andrew Luck needs one more 300+ game to tie Peyton Manning's (4, 1998) club and NFL record for the most by a rookie quarterback. He currently is tied with Cam Newton (3, 2011) for second-most. Robert Griffin III and Brandon Weeden enter today's games with two each.
Luck joined Cam Newton as the only players with three 300+ games in the first four games of a career.
Luck has taken every offensive snap and has had a major hand in the club's successes. He became the first NFL rookie quarterback since 1971 to lead a September fourth-quarter comeback win in the club's week two triumph over Minnesota.
After the Green Bay win, Luck became the first NFL rookie to pass for 1,200+ yards (1,208) and record at least two wins in his team's first four games. After the Cleveland win, he was the first NFL rookie with 1,500 passing yards (1,674) and three wins in a team's first six games.
After the Tennessee win, Luck had the highest winning percentage (.571) by a rookie quarterback who was a top overall pick through week eight in NFL history.
Luck has hit 160-of-288 passes for 1,971 yards, with eight touchdowns and interceptions. His yardage total tracks among the best ever produced by an NFL rookie through seven games.
The NFL record for the most through seven career-opening games is 2,103 by Cam Newton.
Luck is averaging 281.6 passing yards a game, most among rookie QBs.
Luck leads AFC QBs with 143 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Reggie Wayne has receptions in 103 straight games. He leads active NFL receivers with 180 career games played. Wayne (145) is one of six Colts ever to start more than 100 consecutive games (208, Peyton Manning; 115, C-Ken Mendenhall; 104, DE-Fred Cook; 102, DB-Jason Belser; 101, OT-Tarik Glenn). He has played in 173 straight games, the league's best streak by a WR.
Wayne (916, 12,465) is 14th in NFL career receptions. The player ahead of Wayne is Torry Holt (920, 13th). He is 16th in NFL reception yards. Next on the yardage list is Art Monk (12,721, 15th).
Against New York, Wayne became the 14th NFL player with 900 career receptions.
Against Green Bay, Wayne (13-212, 1 TD) produced his highest yardage day (200 vs. Dallas 12/5/10) and became the first Colts receiver with two career 200+ regular-season games. His yardage ranked only behind Raymond Berry (224 at Washington 11/10/57) and it was the fifth 200+ game in club regular-season history (224, Berry; 212, Wayne; 210, Roger Carr at NY Jets 10/24/76; 203, Reggie Langhorne at Washington 11/7/93; 200, Wayne). Wayne became only the seventh player since 1990 to have a 200+ game in a 10th career season or later (James Lofton, Irving Fryar, Jerry Rice, Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith, Terrell Owens (2), Wayne (2)).
He earned the AFC Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors for the first time in his career.
The Colts are 28-12 when Wayne tops 100 reception yards, 19-12 when he has at least eight receptions, 53-13 when he scores a touchdown.
Wayne (75) needs one touchdown to move past Edgerrin James for third-most in Colts history (128, Marvin Harrison; 113, Lenny Moore).
Wayne has 12,465 career scrimmage yards, second in Colts history (14,608, Marvin Harrison; 12,065, Edgerrin James).
Wayne's 54 receptions and 757 reception yards are the most for him through seven games in any season of his career.
With 108.1 yardage average this year, Wayne tops NFL.
The Green Bay game was Wayne's 15th with 10+ receptions, one behind Marvin Harrison's club record. Jerry Rice (17) is the all-time leader, while Wes Welker (16) is tied with Harrison for second-most. Wayne is tied with Andre Johnson (16) for fourth-most. Wayne (2007-08) is tied with Johnson (2008) and Brett Perriman (1995) for the NFL lead with three straight games with 10+ catches.
Against Green Bay, Wayne became the 16th NFL player with 40 career 100+ games (76, Jerry Rice; 64, Randy Moss (active); 59, Marvin Harrison, 51, Terrell Owens; 50, Don Maynard; 47, Torry Holt; 47, Michael Irvin; 46, Jimmy Smith; 45, Isaac Bruce; 43, Tim Brown; 43, James Lofton; 42, Cris Carter; 41, Lance Alworth; 40, Steve Largent; 40, Steve Smith (active)). Rice, Maynard, Irvin, Lofton, Alworth and Largent are Hall-of-Famers.
Antoine Bethea has 59 tackles this season and has 750 for his career. Bethea is one of seven Indianapolis Colts to top 700 career tackles (1,149 Jeff Herrod; 1,052, Duane Bickett; 785, Jason Belser; 754, Gary Brackett, 744, Eugene Daniel).
Kicker Adam Vinatieri has scored in the last 137 consecutive games. His 53-yard field goal with eight seconds left against Minnesota was the 24th game-winning kick of his career.
Against Tennessee, Vinatieri became the eighth player in NFL history to reach 400 career field goals. Vinatieri needs five field goal attempts to move past Jim Turner (488) for 10th-most in history. He needs 35 points to move past Lenny Moore (678) for fourth-place in Colts career scoring.
Linebacker Jerrell Freeman has topped the club in tackles in each of the first seven games. Freeman had 13 at Chicago, 18 vs. Minnesota, 16 vs. Jacksonville, 11 vs. Green Bay, 19 at New York, seven vs. Cleveland and 15 at Tennessee, and he was involved in takeaways in two of the first three outings – scoring interception return at Chicago; forced fumble against Minnesota. Freeman is the first Colts undrafted player ever to return an interception for a touchdown in a career debut, and was the first to do so in the since 1987 (LB-Peter Noga; DB-Paul Tripoli).
Against Jacksonville, T.Y. Hilton became the first NFL rookie receiver this year to post a 100-yard game when he had 113 yards against Jacksonville 9/23.
Linebacker Dwight Freeney (103.5) has recorded sacks against 27 of 31 teams. Detroit, the club's opponent on 12/2, is one of four teams Freeney has not produced a sack against. Freeney has 25 career multiple-sack games, including five three-plus sack games. He has sacked 51 different quarterbacks. Freeney has seven of the 17 double-digit sack seasons in club history.
Freeney has 13 career sacks vs. Tennessee, second-most for him against any opponent (15.5, Houston).
Linebacker Robert Mathis (88.5) has sacks in seven straight games. In 2005, he set an NFL record with sacks in eight consecutive games to start a season. Mathis has 20 career multiple-sack games, including two three-plus sack games. Mathis has four of the 17 double-digit sack seasons in club history.
The Colts are 25-8 when Freeney and Mathis combine for sacks. They each produced 10+ sacks in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2010 to set the NFL mark for most seasons with teammates doing so together. They surpassed Reggie White and Clyde Simmons by doing so. They have combined for 20-plus sacks in five different seasons (26.5, 2004; 22.5, 2005; 22.0, 2008; 23.0, 2009; 21.0, 2010).
Bruce Arians is the sixth interim head coach in club history (1972, John Sandusky, nine games; 1974, Joe Thomas, 11; 1984, Hal Hunter, one; 1991, Rick Venturi, 11 games; 2005, Jim Caldwell, one game).
In beating Green Bay, Arians was the only Colts interim coach to win his first game.
Sandusky was 4-5 in the games in 1972 when he succeeded Don McCafferty. His four wins under those interim conditions stand as the club mark. Thomas was 2-9 in 1974 after succeeding Howard Schnellenberger, while Venturi was 1-10 in his outings in 1991 after replacing Ron Meyer. Hunter lost the final game in 1984 after the departure of Frank Kush. Caldwell lost his one game in the absence of Tony Dungy.
The Colts-Dolphins game is the first matchup since the 1970 Merger that two rookie quarterbacks, each with at least three wins, faced each other in a game – Andrew Luck and Ryan Tannehill.
Miami was the only AFC team undefeated in October and joined Atlanta, New York Giants and Chicago as the only teams to do so.
Two of Miami's three losses have come in overtime. The Dolphins have won two games by four points or less. The Dolphins have won three straight games, the AFC's longest current streak.
Miami has won its last two on the road. After an 0-7 start in 2011, Miami has won 10 of its last 16 outings. Miami has won five of its last six games in Indianapolis.
The Colts and Dolphins have met 68 times in the regular season. The only other team the Colts have met more often in league play is New England (72 times).
Defensive end Cameron Wake has 7.5 sacks and Miami's 22 sacks rank 2nd in AFC, behind Cincinnati's 23.
Wake has sacks in four straight games, his second career four-game stretch.
At the New York Jets last week, Miami recovered an onside kick, blocked a punt for touchdown and blocked field goal in a 20-0 first half in the team's eventual 35-9 win. It was the first such single-game special teams performance in the NFL in last 20 years.
Miami's 115.9 offensive rushing average is 5th in AFC, 11th in NFL.
Miami has allowed only 126 points in seven games (18.0/game), 5th in NFL, 1st in AFC.
Miami opponents have been in the red zone 25 times, scoring only nine TDs (36.0% 2nd-lowest in NFL) and getting 19 total scores (76%, 3rd-lowest in NFL).
Miami has allowed only 28 conversions in 106 attempts, a 26.4% defensive rate, the best in the league.
Miami's 82.0 rushing yards per game allowed is 2nd in AFC, 3rd in NFL.
Since week two, the Miami rush defense has not ranked lower than 2nd in AFC, 5th in NFL, and it ranks 2nd in league in rushing average allowed (3.5).
Miami allows 5.22 yards on first-down plays, 12th-best in NFL.
Only two of seven opponents have topped 100 rushing yards against Miami, and the Dolphins have not permitted a 100-yard back in 21 games.
